James Chudley conducted user research for an ecommerce site selling frozen meals to elderly customers by visiting customers in their homes rather than using a lab. This provided invaluable insights into the real-world challenges customers faced using computers and the site. It allowed the client to understand users' experiences firsthand and provided an engaging, memorable experience for the client compared to traditional lab research. While more complicated to plan than lab research, home visits can provide more natural, empathetic insights into how users interact with products in their actual environments.

1. 1
Get out of the lab
and into the
REAL WORLD
James Chudley
This is a case study taken from
a client project I worked on last
year. I hope it will change the
way you think about your user
research.

2. 2
I work at cxpartners
@chudders
I run large UCD and research
projects at cxpartners, a UX
consultancy based in Bristol.

3. 3
I’m fortunate to work with companies like
@chudders
I’m lucky to get to work with
the great and the good, helping
the to design great digital
products.

4. 4
‘I would happily
never conduct
research in the
lab ever again’
@chudders

5. 5
Let me tell you a story
@chudders
I was asked by a client to
benchmark the usability of their
ecommerce site. They sold
frozen ready meals to
customers of an average age of
83.

6. 6
A day with a delivery driver
@chudders
I spent a day with a delivery driver
and got to meet all sorts of
customers. It made me wonder if
any of them would order online
due to their age and health.

7. 7
Default position isn’t going to work
I usually conduct my user
research in some sort of lab
environment. It’s a convenient
and reliable method that works
well.

8. 8
What the hell am I going to do?!
There was no way I could get 83
years olds to come into the lab,
what the hell was I going to
do?!

9. 9
...so I worried about
Their computers won’t
work properly
My client won’t be
able to see anything
How am I going to
record stuff?
What about
rabid dogs?
Is it ok to go into a 80
year olds house?
How can I do this within
the budgeted time?
How will
recruitment work?

10. 10
...so what happened?
The research was a truly
wonderful and memorable
experience. My client came
with me and we got a great
insight into her customers lives.

11. 11
Recruitment worked in a similar way to lab research
How will recruitment work?
My client recruited people via a
survey and we got our recruiter
to screen them as we usually
would for lab research.

12. 12
My client got a perfect viewing experience
My client won’t be able to see anything
My client came with me so had
a better experience than she
would have had in the lab.

13. 13
Their computers didn’t work properly, this was good
Their computers won’t work properly
@chudders
We saw all sorts of issues with
peoples computers that had an
impact upon how they used the
website. This was fascinating!

14. 14
You can get to more people in a day than you think
How can this work within the budgeted time?
With a bit of careful pre-
planning we worked out a great
route with google maps that
got us to 4 people per day.

15. 15
I didn’t get eaten, which was good
What about rabid dogs?
@chudders
People who had dogs and other
pets just kept them out of our
way.

16. 16
How am I going to record
stuff?
I didn’t record anything and it didn’t matter
How am I going to
record everything?
@chudders
I abandoned trying to record
things, my client was there so it
didn’t matter too much and I
got good notes.

17. 17
People welcomed us into their homes
Is it ok to go into a 80 year olds house?
People expected us and were
very welcoming. They really
enjoyed the novelty of ‘someone
from the website’ taking the
time to hear their views.

18. 18
What did I
learn?
@chudders

19. 19
Go in mixed pairs
Going in pairs is safer, and if
you are in mixed pairs its less
threatening than two males for
example.

20. 20
Do a dry run (in a suitable environment)
Our dry run was invaluable to
work out who would do what
and also what it was like going
into someones home to do this
kind of research.

21. 21
Get to know people before you visit them
I called everyone beforehand to
check on logistical things and
also to get to know people.

22. 22
Have a plan for if it all goes wrong
I took a spare laptop with a wifi
dongle so we could switch to
that if their computers broke
(which they did).

23. 23
Lean on your recruiter to make it work
Our recruiters really helped
with the planning of the
sessions, they worked out some
of the tricky logistical stuff for
us.

24. 24
Keep sessions to an hour (or less)
I kept sessions to an hour as
that it what I usually do in the
lab. It felt like a suitable time to
be in someone elses homes for
too.

25. 25
Prepare for the unexpected
When going into peoples
houses you are likely to see
some ‘different’ things (like
100’s of fairies - don’t ask!) You
have to suck it up and crack on.

26. 26
If you can take photos....
If you take photos make sure
you shoot wide to get people in
their environments. If you are
in pairs then get the non
facilitator to take the photos.

27. 27
Take your client with you
I loved having my client with
me, she had a great experience
and it gave her loads of stories
to share with her colleagues.

28. 28
...benefits of this
approach...
@chudders

29. 29
You see things you won’t see in the lab
@chudders
This is the whole point of this
technique. You will see their
own kit and how they use it
together with the workarounds
they employ to get stuff done.

30. 30
People are surrounded by distractions
In one home our session was
interrupted by all of these
things, another great reminder
of the realities of everyday
usage environments.

31. 31
Loads of informal time with client
I got loads of extra time to chat
through what I was seeing with
my client. I wouldn’t have got
this had I done the research in
the lab.

32. 32
It’s more natural, ‘users’ put you at
ease as opposed to other way round
Because I went to peoples
homes they made an effort to
make me comfortable. In the
lab you spend a lot of time
doing this to compensate for an
artificial environment.

33. 33
Wonderful experience, truly memorable (empathy)
The people you meet are far
more memorable because you
attach their homes with their
faces in your memory. This
makes it easier to design for
them because your level of
empathy for them is greater.

34. 34
‘This is knackering isn’t it!’
A client remarked to me recently
how tiring it is being sat in the
dark watching endless sessions,
why do we use a technique that
tires our clients out?!

35. 35
No distractions in the observation room like email etc.
There are lots of distractions in
the observation room that
make it hard to focus on the
research. My client was 100%
focussed because she was sat
next to her customers.

36. 36
Amazing experience for client
This approach provided a great
experience for my client. She
saw the problems first hand and
had already worked out her
priority list of things to fix
before we got home.

37. 37
...problems I found
with this
approach...
@chudders

38. 38
More complicated to organise
Home visits took longer to plan
that a comparative lab study
would have taken.

39. 39
Harder to have spare participants
Luckily everyone was available
when they said they would be so
we didn’t need to use our spares.
Had certain people dropped out
we would have struggled.

40. 40
Harder to manage the clients experience
It was so much more chaotic
than testing in the lab. You lose
control over the experience
your client has (if that’s a
problem).

41. 41
Extra time to do research
We managed 4 in a day whereas
I will usually do 6 in the lab so
the research took longer as a
result.

42. 42
...in summary...
@chudders

43. 43
Going to peoples homes is not the point,
go to where they are using your stuff
as above! If you are designing
an app to score squash matches
with then test it out at the local
squash court!

44. 44
Just getting out of the office can be really useful
We are all guilty of sitting in our
own offices too much and not
venturing outdoors.

45. 45
Use a blended approach if you need to
Why not try a few home visits
combined with lab research if
it’s a struggle to convince your
decision makers.

46. 46
Just question your default approach to keep work fresh & interesting
Professionally speaking it’s
good to change the way you do
things every so often. It keeps
you fresh and ensures you are
continually learning.

47. 47
These might be helpful
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
‘Definitive and complete UX book
for practitioners and clients’
@chudders
Smashing UX Design has a
dedicated chapter on contextual
research. My photo book will
help you plan your photos so
they help you to tell stories.

48. 48
Thankyou!So please try to get out of the lab more
often and into the real world
I’ve summarised this into an
article on UX Magazine too so
do check that out.

49. 49
Thanks !
@chudders